


I wanna be your boyfriend, chapter six

by The_night_max



Series: I wanna be your boyfriend [6]
Category: Entourage
Genre: Angst, Coming Out, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-17
Updated: 2016-01-17
Packaged: 2018-05-14 12:45:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5744320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_night_max/pseuds/The_night_max
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chapter six. Short and sweet, with a tiny bit of E/V cuteness, and an imagined tough childhood for Vince. Oh, and it's from Johnny Drama's pov. Bad language, but no bonking.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I wanna be your boyfriend, chapter six

Johnny, who isn’t asleep but is pretending to be – it’s convincing as fuck because he’s drawing on that time he worked with Brad – tries to listen in to what his little brother and E are saying on the flight back. Johnny was relieved when he found that note, because sometimes he thinks he might actually be wrong about Vinny and he’s a man who prides himself on his intuition. Johnny wishes Vince had told him because he wanted to, rather than because he finally slipped up, because he’s always seen himself as the type of big brother you could tell anything to. He’s not sure how Vince has actually believed all this time that Johnny didn’t know anything. Vince thinks E knows him better than anyone in the world, but nobody knows Johnny Drama’s baby brother better than Johnny Drama. 

Between their mom, who tried, Johnny is pretty sure, and Vin’s dad, who was angry and cruel and violent and then finally gone, Johnny was the most parent Vince ever had. Arguments were part of the fabric of the house in Queens, but when everything would suddenly stop, it was during the dangerous quiet that Johnny would hear hushed, careful footsteps and the scrape of his bedroom door on carpet, then feel a rush of air as his quilt lifted and Vince’s warm little body slid onto the mattress next to him and his skinny arms wrapped tight around Johnny. It was Johnny who was there at the front through every one of Vince’s school plays – and Johnny who picked him up from rehearsals and ran his lines with him. Johnny who learned how to cook by making his brother’s dinner most nights. 

There was the time, not long before Vince’s dad left for good, when Johnny came home to his brother grey and clammy and wrist at an angle that made Johnny’s stomach turn when he looked at it. It was Johnny who drove Vince to the emergency room, and used the wages he’d been saving to get some rad improvements to his car to get the wrist x-rayed and set. On the journey home Vince, who had been almost completely silent, looked over at Johnny and said: “I don’t want him to love me. But why does he have to hate me this much?” Johnny, whose heart had broken at the fact Vince didn’t even sound sad, had taken his hand off the gearstick and put it over Vince’s. “Baby bro, he does this because he’s messed up. He’s a cruel, angry fuck who takes all his shit out on his own son because he’s fuckin pathetic. You set him off because he knows you’re special, Vin. You’re gonna get far away from here and this life and you’re gonna burn so bright everyone will see it. It scares him; it makes him want to bring you down because you remind him what a shitty fuckin’ human he is. Just promise me you’ll never stop reminding him, ok Vin? One day he’s just gonna be a bad memory. Somethin’ you use when you really want to fuckin’ blow them away on stage, right? All this is gonna get better”. Vince hadn’t said anything then, but at home Johnny walked him upstairs and made sure he could manage one-armed. When Johnny went to leave, Vince had flung his arms around his brother and stayed there for a long time. 

A few months later, when they were all still wondering when Vince’s dad would be back, it was Johnny who called their mother a cold-hearted bitch when a brown envelope came from Vince’s school and she screamed at him that the guidance counsellor had referred him for therapy because ’12-years-olds don’t fuckin’ cry to some counsellor like a little queer that their daddy doesn’t love them, Vinnie, it’s disgusting. You’re fucking embarrassing me and yourself’.

Johnny can’t remember when or how he exactly worked out that Vince was gay, or at least something close, but he can’t remember not knowing. He can see, vividly, Vince at maybe five or six lying on his stomach on the floor playing with his Star Wars figures and bumping Luke and Han together to kiss. Johnny had got down on the floor next to him and picked up Leia.  
“Hey buddy, don’t they wanna kiss the girl?”  
Vince shook his head “No. They don’t like kissing girls. They like kissing together”  
“OK, well then can you make me a promise and not have them kiss together when your pa’s around, huh?”  
Vince nodded and Johnny started keeping a closer eye on anything else Vince’s dad might object to, helping his baby brother keep a secret he didn’t know he had.

So while E might be the one Vince tells everything to, Johnny is the one he doesn’t need to tell. Vince may forget that, but Johnny can’t. That’s why he strains to hear what they’re saying on the jet; the habit of tuning into everything his brother says and does in case he needs Johnny’s protection is too ingrained to break now. Plus, he’s kinda nosey. 

He doesn’t hear everything, but he hears enough, including the quiet un-pressing of lips as they part. He feels a little weird, but mostly he just hopes this is what Vince has wanted. He really does fall asleep after a while and when he wakes up Vince and E are watching a movie together and nothing looks different but Johnny swears he can feel a lightening of the atmosphere, which doesn’t really surprise him, because he’s a pretty sensitive guy. It’s probably why Drew Barrymore was hitting on him so hard that time at Tropicana. 

That next week, back at home, he expects things to be different and he makes sure he does everything noisily, slamming and whistling and heavy-footed, in case Vince and E are doing anything that requires warning of someone approaching. He also tries to bring up how OK he is with people being gay as often as he can without it being obvious and he thinks he’s being pretty fucking subtle, but then right after they watch Ellen and Johnny very casually mentions that there should be more gay people on primetime and that Ellen is totally inspiring, goddamn Turtle suddenly turns to look at him.

“Jeez Drama, why you got such a hard-on for being gay all of a sudden? You tryin’ to tell us somethin’ man? Because honestly, none of us would really be surprised. I mean, just look at the shirt you got on”  
Johnny sees Vince and E exchange a very short glance and he can’t tell what kind of look it is until Vin says:  
“Leave him alone Turtle. Since when did you not have a hard-on for lesbians?”  
“Vin, it’s Ellen. She’s basically a guy. And you gotta admit he’s been weird lately. Like, more than usual”  
Vince shrugs. “Only person I hear obsessing about who’s gay is you Turtle”  
Turtle scowls and says “whatever, man”, but he drops it and Johnny is relieved they all got away with it.

Later, E has gone to meet Ari, who seems to be doing a pretty good job of salvaging Vince’s career from the Medellin mess and Turtle has gone on some errands. Johnny is out by the pool making sure his back is the same colour as his face when Vince comes and stands next to his lounger, shifting slightly awkwardly in the way people do when they need to ask to have a proper conversation.

“Johnny, can we go inside? I need to talk to you” He sounds nervous and Johnny wants to tell him everything is ok.   
Inside, Vince walks over to the island in the kitchen and gets a Blue Moon, which Johnny would guess is equal parts for the alcohol and something to do with his hands. He stands there staring fixedly down as he picks at a corner of the label.  
“Everything ok Vin?”  
“Yeah, it really is. But, uh, the conversation we had in Cannes? I kinda have to tell you something to do with that”  
Johnny Googled how you can support a family member who just came out, so although he wants to say that he knows this is about E, he knows that it’s important for Vince to reveal his news himself, so he just pretends this is a scene where he’s playing a dude who knows nothing.  
“Sure baby bro”  
“I feel like maybe you worked it out already, but, uh, oh fuck this is hard to say. OK, me and E? We’re kind of, uh, we’re trying something, if you know what I mean?”  
“Oh. Wow. OK. You and E? That’s a real surprise”  
“Really? Because I kind of thought you maybe already knew”   
“Me? No, baby bro. No. No, this is totally new information”  
“OK… But, uh, you’re ok with it? Because you seemed pretty shocked in Cannes and you haven’t had much time to get used to it”  
Johnny wonders if he overdid the ‘shock followed by concern’.  
“Nah, Vin. You know, obviously I was real shocked to find out like I did, but I think I always kinda knew there was something goin’ on with you”  
Vince raises his eyebrows “You did? How?”  
“I dunno Vin, it was just a feeling. Since you were a little kid”  
Vince doesn’t say anything but he doesn’t look convinced.  
“OK, well obviously we’re not telling anyone else right now, including Turtle. I love your support Johnny but maybe you could mention it a little less often? I don’t need anyone getting suspicious” He looks tired and worried and Johnny’s protective big brother papa-bear instinct roars inside him. He puts his arm over Vince’s shoulders.  
“I won’t mention it again, but you should know I’m always thinking it, ok? I’m real happy for you that you’re finally being who you need to be”  
Vince gives him a long look. “So you really knew, huh?”  
“I was as sure as I could be”  
“How? Do you think other people know”  
“No. No, baby bro I really don’t. I grew up with you. It was a lot of little things over a real long time”  
“Like?”  
“Jeez Vin. Stuff like I caught you right after you finished with Mrs palm and her five daughters one time. You left your magazine out and there were zero girls in it baby bro. Even before that, you just had… a quality. You were like five and I found you bumping your Luke Skywaker and Han Solo dolls together, y’know?”  
“You never asked me about it”  
“It wasn’t for me to ask, Vin. The way you carried on with girls all this time, it was pretty clear it wasn’t something you were gonna deal with. You were pretty convincing y’know, I thought maybe it was a phase or just your arty side or something”  
“Did you know I, uh, did you know about E?”  
“Nope, not a clue. Makes sense though, you’ve loved that guy forever”  
Vince nods. “It’s hard” he says quietly  
“I can’t imagine. Just know; you need me, I’m there, ok?”  
“Thanks Johnny”  
They have a few beers together and Vince talks to Johnny a little more, about how he thinks things would be different if it wasn’t for his dad, which Johnny couldn’t agree with more. 

E comes back and it’s the first time it’s been just the three of them. As soon as he joins them in the kitchen he gives Vince a questioning look, at which he nods. It’s excruciatingly uncomfortable, Vince and Eric clearly feeling exposed and vulnerable in front of the one person in the world who knows their big secret. 

Johnny thinks someone should just get it out there, so he stands up claps E on the back and says: “So you better treat my baby bro good, or I’m gonna have to beat you up, OK?”  
E goes beet red and Vince’s attention is suddenly completely occupied by his beer.  
“Look, why don’t you guys go talk it out, I’ll make us dinner” Johnny says graciously. Vince gives him an appreciative look and he and E head off to the den. 

When Johnny calls them for dinner nobody answers, so he goes to find them. They’re both asleep on the couch, which isn’t unusual. But while Eric is dozing sitting up in the corner seat, Vince is sprawled along the length of the cushions. His head is resting in E’s lap, who has one of his arms wrapped snugly around Vince, and that’s still kind of jarring to see even though Johnny knows it’s an option for the two of them now and he’s totally cool with it. He stands in front of them and gently shakes Vince’s shoulder. He wakes up with a start and springs off E looking terrified. With a pang of sadness, Johnny realises that finally reaching this point with E is the start, not the end, of some pretty big emotional stuff his little brother has to deal with.  
“It’s ok, it’s just me. Dinner’s ready” he says gently. 

Vince comes to the table and thanks Johnny for the meal, which is spaghetti vongole with clams he picked up at the market that morning. They’re both already eating when E trails in and sits down next to Vince, looking sleepy and swigging a bottle of carbonated water. It could be another one of a thousand other evenings they’ve spent together except that Vince leans over and presses a gentle kiss to E’s temple and although Eric looks a little awkward, he smiles sweetly and returns the kiss.

Johnny beams and offers them the garlic focaccias he made, as he thinks to himself that as long as his baby brother and Eric have each other, they’ll find their way through whatever’s coming.


End file.
